Big Kill

In my childhood i wacthed a lot of Sergio Leone western films. Especially the western films with Clint Eastwood such as A Fistful Of Dollars, For A Few Dollars More and of course my favourite The Good, The Bad And The Ugly. Director Sergio Leone had a very unique view on western films, and managed to capture the magic with his story telling, and with the strong characters. Sergio continued doing another really good western epic film known as Once Upon A Time In The West, with the amazing cast including Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Claudia Cardinale, Gabriele Ferzetti and many others. The western genre managed to keep audiences enchanted into the 70´s, where Clint Eastwood continued making great films in this genre. But as the 80´s came along, you could tell that the western genre was going through a change. But not in a negative way, since there was still hope for this genre. In 1988, a film called Young Guns hit the cinema screens worldwide with a really good cast including Kiefer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen, Emilio Estevez, Lou Diamond Philips and many others. Young Guns was an attempt to make a younger audience appreciate western films, and it worked. This is a fun western film with crazy characters, and some fun gun battles as well. A sequel was released 2 years later, that also worked. I would probably say that the first Young Guns is the best of the films, but the sequel managed to bring the characters back in a positive way. Speaking of Lou Diamond Phillips, this is an actor who have continued working constantly with new films. And he has done some more western films as well, especially in the 2008 film Lone Rider, and the 2009 film known as Angel And The Bad Man. None of them may have been anything unique, but i was hoping to see him return in a new western film with a bigger cast. And this is what we got with the western film Big Kill. A film that recently was released on DVD in Sweden on company Studio S Entertainment. Of course i had to pick a copy up to see if this film would be worth a watch. Is this a surprisingly good western film for us who appreciate this genre, or should Big Kill have been buried underneath the desert sand ?

Travis Parker ( Clint Hummel ) and his companion Jake Logan ( Scott Martin ) have just escaped from the Mexican army, being chased by Mexican General Morales ( Danny Trejo ). As they cross the border to America, Travis and Jake believe they should be safe. But General Morales and his men keep going after them. They are forced to return to Mexico though when Colonel Grager ( Michael Paré ), order them to return or be killed by his men. Jim Andrews ( Christoph Sanders ) needs help to get to the town of Big Kill, and is looking for guides to take him there. He meets Travis and Jake, and offer them to help him make his journey possible. They agree, but it becomes clear that Big Kill is not the friendly town to visit.
 
I will be honest and say, the biggest reason why i wanted to see Big Kill is because of the cast. Just look at this classic actors list in this film:

Jason Patric
Danny Trejo
Lou Diamond Phillips
Michael Paré

All 4 of these actors have given us some great classics in the past, and to see them all together in a western film is a wonderful idea. The question is, does Big Kill bring anything positive into this genre ? I would not say this film bring anything different to the western genre, but i will say that this is a independent film that tries to bring back the old school feeling of classic western films. Even if i am happy to see these legendary actors, they are not the only ones who bring great characters. Actor Clint Hummel ( who some of you might remember from the B action movie P-51 Dragon Fighter ) is the bad ass character Travis Parker. Clint manage to balance his character in a professional way, and still manage to make him enjoyable. Scott Martin ( who is also in the film P-51 Dragon Fighter ) plays gun slinger Jake Logan who is hard not to like, and i especially enjoy his attitude. I think the chemistry between Clint and Scott comes across in a positive way in this film, and to see them together in many scenes makes me appreciate this film, from a character perspective. Lou Diamond Phillips as the gun slinger Johnny Kane, is his best western performance in many years. He is a really good choice for this character, and he proves once again why this is a genre he should do more often. Jason Patric as The Preacher is one of those cool characters who should have his own film ( just imagined a teatle such as No Mercy With The Preacher ). Michael Paré as Colonel Grager is a perfect match for this film, he is rough and very clear who is in charge. Danny Trejo knows exactly how to do his character General Morales, without feeling too predictable. The story of Big Kill actually works pretty good, and capture the time period with nice locations. The small western town, where everyone gets drunk and play poker feels right as well, since this film is trying to bring back the old school western films instead of updating the genre. Director Scott Martin ( who have worked as a producer on many films, such as Dolph Lundgren film Don´t Kill It and P-51 Dragon Fighter ) have made a western film that will be appreciated by fans of this genre. He clearly wanted to make a film that has more to say, than just having gun battles. Get on your horse and ride down to your local DVD / Blu Ray shop and pick up a copy of this film.

Rating: DDD


P.S. If you can´t see Region 1 DVD´s or Region 1 Blu Ray´s, you can find Big Kill on Region 2 DVD from Studio S Entertainment. Link is found below:

http://www.studiosentertainment.se/big-kill/